What are these for?

[Max Q]

I have a 17' 1935 Old Town H.W. with these two brass brackets riveted to the stern of the boat (see picture). Anyone know what these were used for? Also, was this an accessory installed by Old Town?
Finally, I'm going to have to remove them. It seems like the only way to do this is to drill out the brass rivets holding them on. Is there another preferred way to take these things off?
Thanks for your help.
John

 

[Rob Stevens]

Those "brackets" are half of a set of pintles and gudgeons which hold a rudder in place ie. for canoe sailing.

 

[Benson Gray]

They are gudgeons as Rob mentioned and may have been installed at the factory. If these are on your canoe with serial number 113982 as shown at http://forums.wcha.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=5117&d=1213668725 then they were probably not factory installed since there is no mention of them on the build record. The message at http://forums.wcha.org/showthread.php?t=1469 has some suggestions about how to remove them using progressively larger drill bits. Good luck with the rest of your restoration.

Benson

 

[Max Q]

That's what I figured they were for, but there is nothing else on the boat to indicate that it was used for sailing.
Thanks again for the tips.
John

 

[113932]

Mountings

My wild guess would be rudder mounts. Does or did your canoe have sponsons? Look at the picture on page 12 of the 1934 catalog.